THE DEVIL GOES ON A DATE IN SHINJUKU WITH THIS GIRL FROM WORK 2 page

Even the mighty Devil King fell to silence against such infallible logic.

?So where and when are you planning to meet her, and how long will you be out??

?What are you, my mother?! She said she had some kind of club activity after school, so we?re meeting at the Shinjuku station east exit at five.?

?Ah, so we have time. Shall we go, Your Demonic Highness??

?Huh??

Maou watched, puzzled, as Ashiya began to leave anew, just a few minutes after they reached home.

?We must go shopping, and then to the barber shop. Surely, Your Demonic Highness, you did not intend to go out on a date with your messy hair and head-to-toe UniClo wardrobe??

?Who cares about my clothes and stuff? We?re just gonna have some coffee, talk for a bit, and then sayonara! We don?t have to make it a??

?If a young girl is facing trouble, she would never deign to discuss it with anyone but her closest of friends. Not even her parents. Surely, Your Demonic Highness, you understand the meaning behind confiding such close, intimate secrets to another person.?

Having it thrust upon him like this, he could see the logic.

?All?all right. Sure.?

?Wonderful. And I would hate to think that a human girl would think that my lofty master cares naught about how he looks on his day off. You must strike a lasting presence at all times! Clothes, my liege, make the man!?

Maou finally found something to fire back while Ashiya strode briskly out the door.

?I will make you rue the day you berated my clothing!? And berated UniClo, the fastest-growing apparel franchise in all of Japan!?

The Dokodemo call center was open for business until five p.m. on weekends and holidays. Emi herself left the office half an hour later.

Thanks to Maou and Ashiya wasting the entirety of her lunch break in extravagant fashion, her job performance through the afternoon severely lacked in enthusiasm. She had grown pale enough that Rika, in the adjacent cube, grew concerned for her health.

?Hey, why don?t you take off a little early today??

?Yeah?I think I should.?

?I don?t know if something happened, but?try to feel better, okay??

?Thanks??

Emi smiled limply.

As Rika saw her off, Emi plunged into the hustle and bustle of Shinjuku, bobbing against the constant waves of people as she walked on.

What great crime had she committed, which she could only repay by serving as the personal reference for her sworn enemies? She had been floating helplessly amid the punishing currents of modern society, and the next thing she knew, there were now multiple official, signed government documents claiming she was a close relation to the Devil King.

It was the ultimate humiliation.

The Keio-line entrance Emi used was near the west exit of Shinjuku station. From the east exit, she preferred to use an underground corridor that kept her going forward without being cut off by traffic signals and excess crowds. Today, though, the steep stairway that led to the corridor seemed like nothing less than the descent into a pit of darkness.

??I can?t stand it.?

That was why, as she descended the steps, she hoped to write off the figure she had noticed for just a moment, passing by her amid the shops and restaurants to one side, as a figment of her exhaustion. But she reconsidered, feeling that her pride as the Hero was now at stake. Drumming up all the courage that remained in her heart, she approached the figure from behind and pulled at his shoulder.

?What are you doing here, Ashiya??

?Aghh!?

Seeing Ashiya in the city center like this, it was even clearer how much taller than average he was.

?E-E-Emili??

?Emi. Emi Yusa. Don?t you think you should be more careful with calling people by their real names in front of everyone, Ashiya??

?Ngh?hh??

Ashiya groaned, a twisted look on his face.

?You?re acting weird right now. I can tell. I even thought you were stalking someone.?

?Gahh!?

Ashiya?s face grew even more contorted.

?Oh, bingo, huh? I?m impressed security hasn?t stopped to question you.?

Emi had noticed Ashiya because he was hiding behind a station support column, sticking his head out into the corridor like he was playing hide-and-seek with the rest of the world. Actually, forget that. Real hide-and-seek players would?ve been far less conspicuous than that.

?It?it?s nothing to do with you! Begone!?

Judging by that panicked response, she had caught him at a pretty bad time. Something in Emi?s mind kept her from dropping the subject.

?Oh, is that how you treat the woman who sprung you from custody, Ashiya??

?Yooou! That was just a small favor! Don?t go bandying it about like some great, hallowed treasure!?

?You demons certainly are ungrateful, aren?t you? And besides, did you think a Hero would simply let you go unchecked after she discovered you??

?I did not, but?please, just let it go for now!?

?I never let you go during your demon days. Why should I start now??

Opting to ignore Ashiya for the moment, Emi scanned the area he was standing guard over.

?Ah! Wait! No!?

Pushing the flailing Ashiya back, Emi realized that the demon?s previous guard post was directly facing a small café. It was your typical chain café, like any of a million others, but over there, on one of the tables lining the front glass?

?Whoa??

Emi gasped.

?Ahhhh! Forgive me, my liege?!?

Ashiya began to moan loudly behind her.

?Ow! Alci?Ashiya! What?s that all about??

?I?ll never breathe a word! Figure it out yourself!?

?Figure it out? Figure it out how?!?

She had been greeted with a startling image.

It was Maou and that teen from MgRonald he called ?Chi??chatting with each other like best friends! No matter how one looked at it, they were a couple in the middle of a date. Maou had even transformed himself in the meantime, looking like he jumped right out of a ?Modern Sassy Studs? feature in a fashion magazine. The before-and-after juxtaposition was more incredulous than weight-loss infomercials.

?You!?

?Wh-what?!?

The look of sheer spite on Emi?s face as she turned around made Ashiya instinctively take a step back.

?What are you two going to do to that girl, you bastard?!?

?Gah?!?

Ashiya stood motionless, stunned by the sudden, shocking accusation lodged by this woman?this Hero, no less.

?Here you are, you two demons?the Devil King parading this cute little high schooler around, and you watching in the shadow?you degenerates!?

?Degen?! E-Emi?no, Emi! Please, just listen to??

?And I honestly thought you two were trying to live decent lives in Japan! Boy, was I wrong!?

?Y-you have it all wrong! I-I don?t know what you?re thinking of, but my liege has not a single perverse thought in his mind when he??

?How could a Devil King not be perverse?!?

Emi?s logic was undeniably sound.

?Please, just listen to me!?

Driven halfway to tears, Ashiya tried his best to explain the story to the highly irritated Emi.

The girl was Chiho Sasaki, an employee at Maou?s workplace, and she was first to voice her desire to talk things over with him. Maou had agreed in hopes of gaining clues to restoring his magical force, and he would never, ever harm her in the process. Ashiya tried to seem as sincere as possible (by demon standards) as he told the tale.

Emi had no intention of taking Ashiya?s words at face value, but they were still enough to keep her from immediately rushing in to slay the Devil King where he sat.

?Do?do you see now??

Gingerly, Ashiya asked for a response.

?I can see that my sworn enemy is looking absolutely ridiculous, yes.?

?Nnghh? I am sorry??

?You should be. But why does he have to go on a date with her? Couldn?t they just call or text each other??

?I thought so as well. But she wanted to meet him directly, so here we are. Judging by what I?ve seen, I think this girl Chiho has at least a passing interest in my master.?

?I can see that.?

?And that does not bother you at all??

Ashiya, who had just made what (at the very least) his demon mind thought was an epoch-making revelation to Emi, was expecting far more of a reaction than that. Instead, Emi returned his glance, brows high and eyes full of doubt.

?What, are you disappointed I don?t care about him in particular??

?N-no, I just? A simple human girl, having amorous feelings for the Devil King? I had considered it the pinnacle of folly, myself.?

?Me, I?m wondering what that girl sees in him. She could do a lot better.?

?How dare you insult His Demonic Highness!?

?I?m the Hero, remember? But, yeah, any girl can see that she?s into him. It?s hard to tell from this far, but that kind of dress is the ?in? style this summer. Her hair?s all done up, like she just went to the beauty salon, and those shoes are brand-new, too.?

?R-really? They are??

Thirty minutes of tailing the couple, and Ashiya had been completely oblivious.

?Ah, most men probably wouldn?t even notice. She used her wardrobe to come up with a fresh, summery look, and she?s wearing a close-fitting outfit to emphasize her curves??

Suddenly, Emi stopped. She strained at Chiho across the storefront glass, then muttered to herself.

?What is it, Yusa??

??Those are big.?

Without thinking, Emi brought a hand to her chest.

?What are??

Ashiya?s quizzical voice made her snap out of it.

?Huh? N-no? Nothing! Being big doesn?t make you a better fighter!?

?Pardon??

?Being smaller makes it cheaper to have your own custom breastplates made up. They don?t get in the way so much when you?re moving, either.?

??What are you talking about??

?Nothing! B-but, you know, the Devil King?s gotten a lot more, uh, presentable, too, hasn?t he? He?s actually got some decent clothes on, too. Not that UniClo junk!?

Emi forced the change of subject, in part to keep her own mind from dwelling upon certain hang-ups. Ashiya, meanwhile, looked on proudly. He was still having trouble deciphering Emi?s behavior, but hearing this sudden praise for his master provided an instant rush of self-satisfaction.

?I flipped through some magazines to come up with that outfit. It wouldn?t do for some human girl to think my master dressed like a slob, after all. I?ve been performing odd jobs here and there to save up for a time like this.?

Emi nearly lost hold of her bag as she pictured the concept.

??So, what? What?re you expecting out of her??

?How should I know? I was merely shadowing them to ensure no one suspicious approached.?

?You?re the most suspicious guy here right now, Ashiya. Can you hear what they?re saying with your demon hearing or anything??

Alciel, despite his current deviant behavior, was still the Devil King?s right-hand man, his sole remaining Great Demon General. It was a natural question for Emi to ask, given what she knew of his true identity.

?Nonsense. We demons wield superpowers because of our magic! And now that my magic is gone, I could hardly pull superhearing out of my hat or whatnot.?

Emi was lost in thought, ignoring the majority of the oddly boastful explanation the Great Demon General had provided.

It would be bad, very bad, for her if the demons found a way to restore their magic. If they gained access to a massive store of power before she could recover her own holy force?it was difficult to picture Emi having a way to cope with that.

At the same time, even if she moved to dispatch Maou right now, she couldn?t tell if she would retain enough holy power to return to Ente Isla, to say nothing of dealing with the authorities afterward?

After all, unlike Ashiya, Emi could still detect magical force within Maou?enough to confirm his identity as Devil King. For all she knew, he could still be concealing the full extent of his remaining power.

In which case, there was only one option.

If the Devil King and his minion?the chief danger she faced right now?discovered a source of magic, she would have to destroy it before they could harness it. A stopgap measure, perhaps, but it beat sitting around and twiddling her thumbs.

?Ashiya??

?Wh-what??

?You know there?s no point standing here watching them. Follow me.?

?Follow you? Where??

?Into that café, of course. If you aren?t sure you can trust that girl yet, then you have to get closer. Listen to her while you scope out the surroundings. Otherwise, how can you call that ?shadowing? them??

?I-I wouldn?t dare! What would His Demonic Highness say if I performed such a bold?Ahh! Wait a minute!?

Her tenuous line of logic laid out, Emi grabbed the scruff of the reluctant Ashiya and dragged him straight into the café.

Half an hour before Emi spotted Ashiya, the great Devil King Satan met with Chiho Sasaki, new part-timer at his MgRonald location, in front of the Shinjuku Alita big-screen display.

?Oh! Hey, did you cut your hair, Chi??

?Yes! I thought I?d take the plunge and go short for a while! Do you like it??

It was a minute difference from before, one Maou could spot only because he spent hours by Chiho?s side during her training period, and it was difficult to tell how much of a ?plunge? it honestly was. However, given that he normally saw her in either her school uniform or her MgRonald uniform, the untied, free-flowing hair and well-defined lines of her blouse seemed graciously fresh to him.

?Yeah. It suits you really well.?

?Aw, great!?

Chiho gleefully pumped her fist in the air at Maou?s honest response.

?I thought you were gonna show up in your school uniform, though. Didn?t you have some kind of after-school club or something??

Maou had no particular motive behind the question, but it was enough to put Chiho straight off her I did it! gesture.

?Oh, I?d never show up in that! No way would I wear that lame outfit to the café with you, Maou! Besides, if you were walking around Shinjuku with a girl in a school uniform, people might start jumping to conclusions, you know??

Chiho seemed oddly riled up as she defended her choice of clothing. He had seen Chiho in her school clothes before, whenever she came to work straight from class, but the uniform didn?t seem that bad on her. The response was a tad surprising.

?Oh, but look at you! I thought you never shopped anywhere except for UniClo, but you?re going upscale today, huh??

She wasn?t trying to be mean, presumably, but Maou still had to chuckle at the meaning beneath the words.

?Yeah, my roomie said there was no way he?d let me out on a date in UniClo stuff.?

?Not that there?s anything bad about UniClo, but if you want to go head-to-toe with it, you gotta be careful how you coordinate it, or else it?ll turn out all weird. But, wow, you saw this as a date, huh? That?s awesome!?

What?s awesome? What?s so bad about UniClo? Is this really a date? Maou nodded vaguely, a thousand questions popping into his mind.

?You gotta get home before dinner, though, right??

?Well, yeah, but??

Chiho nodded sullenly. That much was unavoidable; she had family waiting. Maou knew by now that the sort of teenage girls who partied in Shibuya or Harajuku until the wee hours were only a tiny handful of the entire population.

?So what do you wanna do? We can?t just stand out here on the street. I don?t go out to eat much, so I can?t really think of any place to sit down and relax except Ronald?s.?

Chiho, apparently anticipating this, thought in silence for a moment.

?Why don?t we go to the Barluxe café? It?s cheap, and it?s usually pretty laid back.?

Maou knew about Barluxe. The name, at least.

?Oh, and don?t worry about paying! I can cover all of that, if you don?t mind listening to me.?

She must have said that out of concern for Maou, who emitted a palpable ?working poor? aura at all hours of the day. But even Maou boasted the pride of a young adult male?to say nothing of the pride of a Devil King.

?Nah, nah. I?m the guy here. I can cover that much for the two of us.?

Ashiya?s prediction was spot-on. It figured.

?Ready to go??

The nearest Barluxe was a short ways down Yasukuni street, at the near end of a food court within an underground commuter-rail corridor.

?Oh?uh, Maou??

?Hmm??

Chiho stopped Maou, just as he began to walk off.

?Um??

?What? What is it??

?Your, uh, hand??

?Hand???

Chiho turned her eyes downward a bit, teeth clenched, her face a little red for some strange reason. Maou thought she was going to cry out for a moment, but what came out instead was even more surprising.

?Do you mind if we?uh, hold hands??

She was a grinning ball of energy earlier, but all of a sudden her voice was as soft as a buzzing mosquito. Maou looked on, confused.

?Sure, whatever.?

He casually picked up Chiho?s right hand. Chiho, surprised, tensed her body for a moment.

?What??

?Oh, uh?no! Awesome! Uh, it?s nothing! Thank you very??

?Sure, sure. It?s a crowded street anyway. Wouldn?t want to get separated from you.?

?Ngh?!?

Chiho?s whirling carousel of mood changes made it difficult for Maou to figure out what she wanted. She seemed to flip between each one like a deck of cards, from surprise to happiness to blankness to some weird sense of capitulation.

??You?re right, aren?t you? I kinda see that now.?

Maou took another close look at Chiho?s face. Chiho, eyes wide open, tried to maintain a certain distance from him in response. She was less than successful, given how they were holding hands, and thus simply twisted her body a little instead.

?You?re acting kinda weird today, Chi.?

?Oh? Oh. Well, I guess it?s probably because of all this stuff that?s been happening to me!? Averting her eyes in an odd fashion, Chiho started to walk, dragging Maou?s hand behind.

?Yeah? Guess so.?

Maou had little choice but to accept the excuse, but?

?Mmm?? He peered at Chiho, as she let out what sounded like a very torn sort of sigh.

At first glance, she appeared not to be manifesting any sort of magical phenomena. There were no unusual deviations from the typical human body, and even as they made contact with each other, she neither showed any noticeable changes nor demonstrated any reaction to the remnant magical power she might have absorbed from Maou.

The only notable deviation from the norm was that Chiho?s palm seemed warmer than his, her pulse oddly fast.

Which meant that Maou had to consider the idea of someone externally interfering with Chiho?s psyche. Perhaps the enemy that attacked Emi and him, or perhaps some unrelated magical force, was acting upon her at the moment.

And all of that assumed Chiho was telling the truth?

Regardless, there was nothing unusual about her right now. It was time to hear the full story.

The eastern exit from Shinjuku station was home to a large underground shopping mall built around the JR Shinjuku entrance. They walked down a nearby stairwell to find the food court largely uncrowded, it being the lull between early afternoon and evening.

Barluxe, luckily, was fairly empty as well. He chose a table next to the front window, figuring it?d be easier for Ashiya to see him there, but then realized it could be difficult for anyone to observe them undetected from outside a food-court café.

Taking a glance back, he spotted Ashiya hiding behind a pillar a distance away.

?So anyway, Chi, how about we start with you going over the whole story again for me??

?Okay.?

Maou kicked things off, a regular-sized blended coffee in his hand, a seasonal frozen latte in hers.

?So I told you how my ears have started ringing a lot more since I started working at MgRonald, right? At first, I thought it was stress?like, trying new things I wasn?t comfortable with, and stuff. But you and Ms. Kisaki and everyone were so nice to me and we never have to deal with any weirdo customers or anything?and I don?t have any problems at school, either, so I thought maybe I just wasn?t feeling well.?

Maou nodded politely as she continued, taking equal care to keep a perceptive eye on both their surroundings and Chiho herself.

?So then there was that really big earthquake I told you about, right? The one that hit our house, and nobody else?s. I thought, wow, that was kind of weird, but last night, I was alone in my room, and all of a sudden I heard this voice talking into my ear.?

?Yeah, about that voice. What did it sound like? Different from you and me talking right now??

Chiho placed an index finger on her chin, thinking for a moment.

?Mmm? Well, do you ever watch movies or anime or anything, Maou??

??Sometimes.?

Almost never, actually, considering the lack of a TV in his apartment. He glossed over that to keep the conversation going.

?Well, you know how they depict telepathy and stuff, right? Like, a really echo-y voice? It wasn?t like that at all.?

?No??

Chiho?s pace accelerated, as if she just remembered something.

?It was, like, this very dignified male voice, and it sounded really frantic. I could hear it okay, but it kind of sounded like a radio that wasn?t tuned quite right.?

?Really?!?

?Y-yeah??

Chiho nodded, a tad surprised at Maou?s sudden burst of life.

?And everything he said was, like, really basic. Things like ?Uh, can you hear me?? and so on.?

Hearing a strange man?s voice in your ear would be enough in itself to make anyone panic, but apparently Chiho sat quietly and listened.

?I ended up talking out loud to reply to him, but he just kept on saying ?Can you hear me? and stuff, so I guess he couldn?t hear anything from my end. So I sat around waiting for him to say something, and then I heard, like, ?Ah, whatever. This is only comin? out to a limited number of people, so I?m just gonna say it. Your world?s got all kinds of weird natural events happening right now. There?s gonna be a really big one before too long, so watch out. And we?ll be over there, too, once the time is right, so???

With that, Chiho fell silent and took a sip from her frozen latte.

??That?s it??

?That?s it. And I don?t know what that means at all, so I figured it was, like, a wrong number or something. It definitely wasn?t for me. So I tried saying and thinking, like, That?s not for me, you got the wrong girl, but then the tuning got worse and the voice went away. My ears haven?t rung at all since.?

?So you thought the ?natural events? he mentioned must have been the earthquakes you?ve been feeling.?

?It took a little bit to figure that out, but yeah. I was so surprised to hear that voice, I couldn?t think about anything for a while.?

Chiho laughed a little to herself and sipped at her latte, which was starting to melt a bit as she lost herself in telling the tale.

Maou, meanwhile, pondered over this, not overly concerned about his increasingly lukewarm coffee.

The voice Chiho heard was probably a type of mental maneuver known as an ?idea link.? It involved synchronizing the internal psyches of two people from different worlds and with differing languages, converting (for example) the speaker?s Japanese into a concept the receiver could natively understand.

In a world advanced enough to develop Gates that opened to other planets, sonar technology had been well-established for ages. Launching this ?sonar? triggered invisible explosions of magic, the shock waves from which could be analyzed to determine the state of things in a Gate?s destination. These magical explosions could take on different forms wherever they took place.

It was entirely likely that one of these sonar blasts was directed at Earth?at Japan, to be exact?and manifested as the ?natural event? of an earthquake.

A cadre of assassins launched it, no doubt, to destroy the Devil King. The possibility of the sonar blast just happening to fall on Chiho?s home was dizzyingly low, but it wasn?t zero. That would explain why the quake was felt only in that immediate space and nowhere else.

They could have aimed that sonar blast at a fairly specific position as well, assuming they followed the tracks in Gate-space made by the Devil King, Alciel, and the Hero pursuing them.

And come to think of it, wasn?t there a little bit of shaking the night he and Emi were attacked? Maybe the attacker was hiding nearby, firing off a short-range sonar to gauge the Devil King?s potential magical response.

Something was going to happen, and much sooner than he expected.

Maou and Ashiya?s external appearance had assimilated fully to the Japanese norm, but in essence, they were still full-fledged demons. Demons who, just the previous night, had allowed an unseen foe to slink right up to them.

As Chiho put it, ?There?s gonna be a really big one before too long??which likely meant someone with a similar level of magical energy was about to take action.

The enemy was seated right next to him, waiting for the just right opportunity.

?Ahh? I?m really glad I could get this off my chest, Maou.?

?Huh??

He snapped back to reality at the sound of Chiho?s voice.

?Thanks a lot. I knew you?d believe in me.?

?Oh, no, no, it was nothing??

?No, it is! Most people wouldn?t give the time of day to a story like that. To be honest, I was a little scared to text you. I thought you?d just laugh at me.?

?You think so? Have you told your parents or your friends??

?Oh, no way I could do that. I?m in my late teens. If I came out with a story like this, they wouldn?t just laugh?they?d be seriously worried about me. Like, why can?t this girl tell the difference between fantasy and reality??

?Huh? Yeah, I guess so.?

Maou tried his best to reassure the downtrodden Chiho.

?Well, you know, if you ever need anyone to talk to, I can grnghghff!!?

?Uh, are you okay? What happened?!?

Chiho, concerned at Maou?s sudden and intense choking, offered him a glass of water. Gulping it down, his eyes tried to get a handle on his situation, but the image in the corner of his eye made it impossible to think rationally.

Why? Why are Emi and Ashiya entering the café together?!

?Maou??

?Ahem! Sorry, I?m fine. Guess something went down the wrong pipe. I didn?t do anything wrong!?

?Huh??

?Forget it. It?s perfectly normal for someone to discuss matters with their coworker, and there?s nothing at all dark or sinister about it, so I am definitely not here for any malevolent reason.?

?Um, are you all right, Maou??

?Mm? Oh, sorry, Chi. Don?t worry about it. Just had kind of a seizure there.?

?A?seizure??

?Fossa Magna.?

?Maou?!?

?No, no, I?m sorry. I?m all right, so??

His befuddled, unresponsive mind had taken seven trips around the globe at light speed in the course of a second. Realizing he had stopped himself on the other side of the world, he took one more semicircle around to reach the café.

?Uh?anyway! Putting everything you said together, I don?t think that voice or the ringing in your ears is any kind of direct problem for you. What really matters is whether anything really bad is going to happen, that ?really big one? you mentioned. Will it, or won?t it? That?s the key here!?

Chiho was wonder-struck at Maou?s extremely bizarre behavior over the past two minutes, but nodded nonetheless. He appeared to be treating her seriously, at least.

?Luckily, it doesn?t sound like that man had any kind of malicious intent when he reached out to you. If anything does come up, just let people around you know. That could make a big difference.?

?I?guess so, yeah.?

?That?s about all I can say for now. Sorry it?s not really any kind of real solution.?

Maou took another gulp of water, attempting to prop himself back on track.

Chiho, hands still clasped around her glass of now-completely-melted latte, thought over something for a moment before bringing her head back upward.

?Thank you very much, Maou. This really feels like a weight?s been lifted from my shoulders.?

?Oh? Well, great.?

Take that, Emi! Maybe it?s a far cry from a Devil King?s normal behavior, but I?ve done nothing weird with her at all! No matter how you look at it, I?m just another nice guy, helping out the new girl at work!

?By the way?what made you think to talk to me about this?? Internally, Maou felt he had every right to be proud, but some nagging doubt in his mind made him ask Chiho the question. He had been Chiho?s training supervisor at work, yes, but it was less than two months since their first encounter. He knew full well that ?veteran burger flipper? was not a particularly coveted position in modern Japanese society.

Date: 2016-06-12; view: 218